I didn't think Clayton Kershaw or Jorge De La Rosa would break serve Saturday night. For a while, all they did was match each other, scoreless inning for scoreless inning, in Chavez Ravine.

But the Dodgers finally got to the Rockies. De La Rosa, however, wasn't to blame.

L.A. beat Colorado 5-0 on Saturday night to take the NL West title. The Rockies win the Wild Card.

As the Wild Card winners, the Rockies will fly to Philly Monday to take on the Phillies in the NLDS (beginning Wednesday).

Phils fans secretly feared this matchup. The Rockies, after all, are the hot team. Honestly, I think too much is made of the hot team stuff.

Oh. And there's the fact that the Rox swept the Phils out of the playoffs with relative ease in '07.

But back to Kershaw-De La Rosa.

Clayton Kershaw is one of the reasons I said Phils fans shouldn't want to play L.A.

This 21-year-old kid has a lot of talent... and could have a Cole Hamels-like October. All he did Saturday night was throw six shutout innings, holding the Rockies to three hits while striking out 10.

With him and Randy Wolf, two lefties, pitching two of the first three games, the Dodgers would match up well against the Phils.

As for the Rockies? Well, here's the interesting news: Jorge De La Rosa left Saturday's game in the middle of the fourth inning with a tender right groin.

Groin injuries are tricky. Remember Chan Ho Park's two weeks ago? Yeah, it's not something you can bounce back too quickly from.

The Rockies have other arms - Ubaldo Jimenez comes to mind - but De La Rosa is a 16-game winner and he's left-hander. That's a HUGE loss for the Rockies as they try to tame the Phils' left-handed heavy lineup.

One other observation from Saturday night: Kershaw's startling start was another example of the Rockies' struggles against left-handed starters. The Rockies lineup is littered with hitters whose splits lean strongly to the right.

There is little doubt in my mind that J.A. Happ, and not Pedro Martinez, will start against the Rockies if this series goes to a fourth game. Happ shut out the Rockies and struck out a season-high 10 batters in the process just two months ago.

Book it.


Of course, the Phils don't have to announce a fourth game starter until the series gets that far. They could park both Happ and Pedro in the pen for the first three games and make the decision if and when the series gets that far.

But, like I said, book it.